It's March, and in Southwest Florida we're all outdoors. Even our art is outdoors.

Nearly every exhibition this month emphasizes nature — such as the unique "American Farmer" photo exhibition and upcoming talk-back at the Collier County Museum — or incorporates it into its message, such as Mally Khorasantchi's "Seasons of the Soul" at the FGCU library gallery.

Some artists, such as Mary Parkman and Paul Arsenault, even went outside to paint. Here are four of their shows, founded in nature, re-imagining what we're all seeing in our daily lives here:

'Best buds'

New paintings by local artists Paul Arsenault and Mary Parkman were inspired by the Naples Botanical Garden. The garden opens its gates an hour early, at 8 a.m., Tuesdays to give plein-air artists quiet time amid its natural beauty and in early spring, there's a nearly 100 percent chance of coming across an easel and a painter.

Both artists, in fact, were among them Tuesday, painting the week before their opening reception Wednesday, March 13.

"The garden is everyone's great pride in the community," Arsenault said, "and we have Mary Parkman, in our gallery who's doing very well in her first year of retirement from teaching art at The Community School. She does florals in particular, and we thought it would be nice collaboration for each of us to paint from the garden."

They paint with much different horizons, techniques and distances, which evokes vastly different work from each artist.

"It's really fun to be doing painting in similar corners of the garden that are filled in tremendously with new plants and new blossoms," Arsenault said of his work.

"The tabebuia is just beginning to bloom — it's glorious this time of year."

For Parkman, who taught elementary school art, coming back to plein-air painting was a challenge.

"You have to be brave," she said. "You have to be willing to take people saying, 'Hmmm, what's that going to be?' Or being out there when you realize something isn't working in your painting."

Then there are the inconveniences of painting away from studio supplies: She showed up one morning and found she'd forgotten to pack her brushes. Ever the good teacher, Parkman improvised: "I painted with a credit card. But it came out kind of cool."

'American Farmer'

Schedule in the Collier County Museum's current show right now because "American Farmer" is only there one more week. And it will be an astounding week for those who visit, promised Ryan Davis, events, sales and marketing coordinator for the museum.

He's mesmerized by the photo of the beekeeper, standing without a trace of fear as her winged subjects buzz around and wander over her clothes.

"I'd seen everything in thumbnails," he said of the ExhibitsUSA traveling show offered by the Mid-America Arts Alliance. "I wasn't quite prepared for the power of it. These are life-size photos, or near it."

"Rooster Man," Collier County Museum(Photo: Paul Mobley)

The largest is close to 6 feet tall, he said. The 45-photo exhibition distills 200 works made by photographer Paul Mobley in his hope to "capture the soul of our country’s farm communities," as the Alliance notes in its publicity.

Mobley followed farmers from Florida through the Midwest and out to California and even Alaska, capturing pride, sweat and food. Sheep herders, grain growers, blueberry harvesters, corn belt Midwest farmers and ranchers are all part of a sweeping vista of the agrarian tradition that grew America.

Mobley's first book, "American Farmer: Portraits from the Heartland" (Welcome Books, 2008) received the 2009 Western Heritage Award for best photography book from the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum.

Collier County Museums have a number of exhibitions this month in which art and agriculture intersect. At the Immokalee Pioneer Museum is the second "Heritage and Harvest," featuring works specific to Immokalee from Paul Arsenault. Its paintings look into the life of a community few of us know, and for those who haven't been to the museum, there's another treat in store.

Pastel Society of Southwest Florida Show

The Marco Island Center for the Arts is just putting the finishing touches on a friendly, familiar — but competitive — exhibition: The Southwest Florida Pastel Society's annual show. It's a judged show and is at Marco this year for its debut.

Because Marco is the first host, said Annie Burns, external relations associate, awards are to be announced at the reception Tuesday evening at the center. Count on some anticipation before the names are read.

There are 55 works this year in the show, and while its theme isn't nature per se, there's a good deal of it in the entries: wading birds, flowers and a self-confident cock, "Wonder Rooster." It will cover both the main galleries of the center.

The themes come from the two books that influenced them: The first is from Nobel prize-winning poet-philosopher-painter Hermann Hesse; the second from researcher and environmentalist Peter Wohlleben. Because of its display in the FGCU Artlab library gallery, both books are on display for ready perusal.

With its cleanly displayed solo exhibition and a bench from which to appreciate and read, it's an oasis in the university's throbbing campus.

Curated by the university's art gallery director, John Loscuito, the "Seasons" are a thoughtful course on life, from its seasons of nurture to our fading last years ("A Time to Leave"). Khorasantchi uses photos, her own and collected, as well as painting, and likes to add what she calls "a bit of surprise" for the viewer, cutting into photos to finish them in her own style.

It's only her first in a year that promises a lot of visibility for Khorasantchi. Next stop with her art: St. Petersburg, Russia.

When: Now through March 28; the gallery is open during library hours; see its website for that day's hours